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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26761738">with spring comes flowers</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/slipperyoldbones/pseuds/slipperyoldbones'>slipperyoldbones</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Undertale (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Farmertale, Alternate Universe - Fellswap (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Horrortale (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underswap (Undertale), Depressed Sans (Undertale), Ecto-Genitalia (Undertale), Ecto-Tentacles (Undertale), Ecto-Tongue (Undertale), Ectobiology, F/F, Fellswap Papyrus (Undertale) - Freeform, Fellswap Sans (Undertale) - Freeform, Fluff and Angst, Horrortale Papyrus (Undertale), Horrortale Sans (Undertale), Horrortale characters have different nicknames because fuck you, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Liberal use of Italics, M/M, Multi, No Incest, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Frisk (Undertale), Reader is Sans (Undertale), Reader-Insert, Reincarnation, They all have different heights, Underfell Papyrus (Undertale), Underfell Sans (Undertale), Underswap Papyrus (Undertale), Underswap Sans (Undertale), Underswap Sans is not a child, Undertale Saves and Resets, Younger Brother Papyrus (Undertale), also aphra's going to kill gaster somewhere along the line babes, dom reader, i love making aphra sad &lt;3, none of the brothers are going to date each other u nasty, oh and, that's just gross, they're my favorite bitch</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 02:34:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,145</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26761738</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/slipperyoldbones/pseuds/slipperyoldbones</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Apparently, with death there came no rest.</p><p>Aphra had been nearing thirty years old when they had died, and of a car accident, no less. And you'd think that'd be the end of it, that they'd go to wherever people go when they kick the bucket, but no. No, it couldn't be that easy for them. Instead, they, or more accurately their soul had been transferred to an alternate universe where a 𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘰 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦 was real.</p><p>And to make it even better, they were a skeleton and surrounded by alternate versions of both them and their brother. And they have a 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 now, can you believe that? They can't make it seem as though they're anything that they're not, they don't know what would happen otherwise. Definitely not anything good, from how some of the other versions are looking at them.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alphys/Undyne (Undertale), Papyrus &amp; Sans (Undertale), Papyrus (Undertale)/Reader, Papyrus/Sans (Undertale), Sans (Undertale)/Reader, Sans/Sans (Undertale)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>146</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. dead leaves</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Death, Aphra realized, is not a pleasant experience.</p><p>Only moments before, they had been walking down to the other side of the road. It had been raining all day, and with it there came the customary cool feeling in the air once it had gone away. They had breathed it in, soothed by the cool air in their lungs and the slight sting of cold wind. The untied shoelaces of their boots splashed in shallow water as they walked, not that they really minded. It happened too often for them to care anymore, and if they found the damp feeling of cotton unpleasant, then it gave them all the more reason to <em>not </em>tie their shoelaces.</p><p>But even as they walked, Aphra wasn't focused on much of anything. Their head was filled with daydreams of coming home, and not much else. They'd just gotten a Bird's Nest Fern, and they wanted to check up on it and see if it was adjusting well to it's new pot and soil. They were pretty sure they had spotted some browning near it's tips, so they were going to have to cut them off and water it a little less. After that, they'd check up on their other plant babies, get something warm to drink, and settle into bed to watch TV. Work had gotten to them, and while they <strike>had</strike> loved their job as a florist, it <strike>did</strike> can get tiring after a while.</p><p>It wasn't a busy street <strike>normally</strike>, so they weren't worried about holding up anyone. Besides, they liked it when it rains, and they'd stick around for a little while. It's not dawdling a little would get them killed. <strike>How wrong they'd been.</strike></p><p>And then it came.</p><p>The piercing sound of sirens, loud and shrieking and <em>close</em>, and it had made Aphra flinch and startled them out of their thoughts. Their head had swiveled up, dark, choppy bangs getting into their eyes which they didn't bother getting out of the way because there was <em>a car right there and they couldn't <strong>move </strong>why couldn't they just fucking move-</em></p><p>And then there came pain, startling and agonizing and more terrible than anything that they had ever experienced in their life. They could <em>feel </em>their bones break, organs rupture in a way that that <em>shouldn't be possible fucking nobody dies this easily-</em></p><p>And well. Here they are.</p><p>Dying.</p><p>At least shock had settled in pretty quickly, they mused a little morbidly to themself. Their eyes started up at the dreary sky above them, dark grey clouds obscuring the sun. They were pretty sure they were losing blood, and fast, and doubly sure that, judging from the screech of tires on asphalt, whoever had hit them had booked it. What a shame, whoever had been their killer didn't even have the decency to stick around. Although Aphra was pretty sure they'd prefer it anyways, who wants to stay with the person who'd killed them?</p><p>Certainly not them. But ah, they really did wish that they weren't dying alone. In the very least, they had thought that they would die surrounded by friends or even pets. Not their family, though. Never their family. The relationship they had with them wasn't . . . exactly loving, to put it lightly. All that they can really say about them is that they were happy they'd never have to deal with any of them again, at least. And . . . ah. They were starting to feel cold, and their eyelids were feeling heavier by the second.</p><p>This is it, then? Aphra's going to die in a not so busy street, with the sound of sirens in the air, on a rainy day? How . . . disappointing. They sort of wished that they could've gone down in a blaze of glory, or something. Maybe next time, or whatever next time even is.</p><p>Slowly, their eyes closed, and Aphra knew nothing.</p><p>
  <strike>Not.</strike>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. transplant</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>a HUGE thank you to everyone who commented, u guys all made me smile so much and i just,, loved it? i am an absolute whore for attention so tysm, it was awesome!! alSo this story has a tumblr so feel free to hit me up on platonicskelewhore if u have questions, or not, i don't mind! talking's hard but i don't blame u for just not wanting to</p><p>and one more thing, i'm pretty sure i accidentally made a new au for undertale when i had just meant to make aphra a farmer sans, so i'd appreciate if u guys came up with a name for it because i'm shit at themfejfi</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Oh no, now that just won't do."</p><p>Hands that were simultaneously everything and nothing all at once, skin mottled and yet filled with youthful vigor, shaky and steady, dark and rich and light and everything in between, held an entire cosmos within it's grasp. It was beautiful, filled with rippling, deep blues and magentas, turquoise weaving along with gold, and the entire thing practically dusted with what looked like glitter. There were entire universes within each sparkle, each one containing an entirely different world and yet all of them seemed to parallel each other one way or the other.</p><p>But the being didn't seem to be interested in any of that, it's been a long time since they've been dazzled by much of anything. The passage of time has made them jaded to the entire worlds that they've created. The only thing that kept them to their work was the inescapable urge to create and destroy, and a sense of duty that they've never managed to shake. What made them to be so dedicated to this, they wondered, because surely there had been something before them as well. Or maybe they'd been born of darkness, from the endless void that surrounded them, or perhaps the void had been made from them. Who knows?</p><p>The being leaned in close to the cosmos, their vision seeming to hone in on one soul in particular. It had lived a boring life, the being assumed, asides from the spark and bang that it had gone through in it's early years. How interesting it was to see the cruelty that humans were capable of, even to their own children. Or maybe it was especially to their children? Humans have the curious habit of seeing the things that they had birthed belonged to them, like they were a possession rather than another soul. It was . . . strange.</p><p>And yet, that soul had persisted, like many others the being had seen. It had come out of that life, not on top, for it was battered and weary, but it had <em>survived. </em>In the years coming, it had healed for as much as it could, but there were still scars upon it's soul and even some scabs, hurts that it could never really get over. The being found that even while humans were capable of such cruelty, there were times where they could be seen as admirable for the sheer will they have to persist onwards.</p><p>But even despite all of that, the soul had met an untimely end. It'd been run over, an ill stroke of luck. The being felt a spark of amusement, because it was really <em>terrible </em>luck. But then . . . the being had been the one who had orchestrated it in the first place, they have . . . ideas, for the soul. Doing this sort of thing was the best sort of entertainment, taking souls from other universes and transplanting them into different ones. And the being had found the perfect body, the perfect world for the soul to inhabit. Yes, it would be <em>very </em>entertaining.</p><p>"Now then," a silvery voice spoke, hushed and seeming to be spoken by a thousand voices spoke, "Let's get you out, yes?"</p><p>Much like one would pluck an apple, the voice reached out with two long, spidery fingers and tugged little Aphra's soul out. It was a deep purple, with threads of gold and yellow strewn about like cracks. And the being had been right, there <em>were </em>scars on it's soul. Every soul handled being transplanted differently, the being had no control over it. Idly, the being wondered how Aphra would be affected from it's switch. Would their memories keep? Would shards of them crack into their mind, letting them see mirrors of their past life? Nevertheless, it'd be interesting to see how a human would handle a monster's body.</p><p>"This universe doesn't even have a name yet," the being hummed, Aphra's soul still between it's two fingers as it looked at the world that they were going to put them in. "Undertale, you call it. With all of the other aeyous," they paused. "Aeyous . . . That doesn't sound right. AUs?"</p><p>They looked down at Aphra's soul, "Yes, AUs." And then it went to put Aphra's soul in it's new body, and skeletal bones glowed a deep, mossy green before fading.</p><p>The Creator smiled.</p>
<hr/><p>"It-"</p><p>"It worked," an awed, trembling voice spoke. It seemed to belong to a man, judging from the low tone it was spoken in. He stared up at the test tube, where a small, skeletal body resided inside. It floated in the deep green liquid, various wires attached to seemingly every bone in it's body. It looked so small, so fragile, it's bones looked strangely translucent, as though they weren't fully formed yet, it's jaw was clenched shut, giving no hint as to whether or not if it could ever open. It's eyelights weren't even there. But he paid no mind to that, all that he could focus on was the little skeleton's soul.</p><p>It was small, and it looked like even the barest amount of force that would be applied to it could break it, but it was <em>there</em>. All the sleepless nights, all the planning and hemming and hawing, it all <em>meant </em>something. It <em>worked</em>, he <em>did </em>it. Slowly, he held one hand and placed it to cool glass, gazing up at <em>his </em>creation. A smile, large and crooked, formed on his face.</p><p>This was his life's work. No, not that. He had <em>made </em>life, and surely the King would be pleased with him now. Surely there was a way to-</p><p>He was getting ahead of himself.</p><p>Yes, he had to do his work. He needed to check his creation's vitals, write down observations, take pictures as it progresses through his development. Yes, yes, he needed to do all of that. And then, only when he was <em>sure</em> that he had actually created life, could he go on to Asgore. It was best to not bring his hopes up, he couldn't stand to see him droop, wilting and taking away all of his brightness. So if he has to keep this breakthrough secret until he was absolutely sure that the test tube would survive, then so be it.</p><p>
  <strike>They're so close to getting Asriel back, he knows that Asgore would do anything to get his Toriel, and his <em>family </em>back.</strike>
</p><p>
  <strike>He was jealous of Toriel.</strike>
</p><p>HoPe sang in W. D Gaster's soul as he stared upon the culmination of years of research and hard work. Suddenly, the future didn't seem so bleak. It felt like he found the way to make new monsters all over again, when Alphys had accidentally dropped Determination on dust. What should have done nothing but waste precious Determination that they wouldn't be able to get without more humans falling down, instead made the dust clump together and start <em>moving</em>. When Gaster had looked at it underneath a microscope, he saw that, somehow, the Determination had made <em>new, living cells, </em>which were <em>knitting </em>together with the dust.</p><p>Almost immediately, Gaster had taken the . . . organism and put it into a sealed container, with air holes at the top just in case it needed air. He took it to his personal lab, away from the others so that nothing from outside would be able to disturb it. And then, over the next few hours, he just watched. He had no time to make notes, the organism seemed to be changing constantly from one form to another. When it had stuck to one form at last, he'd been so <em>sure </em>that it would stick. But it hadn't. It had melted together, and somehow <em>eaten away </em>the bottom of the container.</p><p>Gaster couldn't understand why that had happened, and he hated not knowing. With his full attention on making another one of those organisms, it had taken him hours to figure it out. It was <em>magic</em>. Monster magic, the determination fed off of magic, which then went onto knitting together the dust and making it <em>alive, </em>although it was unintelligent. That wasn't what Gaster had wanted, he wanted it to be capable of thinking, of feeling, he wanted it to be a <em>true </em>monster. Admittedly, he was getting frustrated, getting angry.</p><p>He was the Royal Scientist, and yet he couldn't even do this. Doubts had swirled in his mind about his own capabilities, he became snappish and rude. And the one to get the brunt of his attitude was poor Alphys, since she was his assistant.</p><p>One day, he did a terrible thing to her.</p><p>Do you know what it takes to create an artificial monster?</p><p>A soul.</p><p>With his LV rising, it was with cold clarity that Gaster took Alphys' soul into the container, mixed with dust that he had taken from one of his own hands. Bandages covered his left palm, Gaster was sure that he was going to have to find a different way to cover it, make it less conspicuous. Perhaps he could invest in gloves. But that was all in the past. Still, nobody knew what had happened to Alphys, where she had disappeared off to, and Gaster will make <em>sure </em>that nobody finds her.</p>
<hr/><p>The thing about death is that people generally don't expect to wake up again. Eternal slumber, and all that. Your brain shuts down permanently and then gets eaten by maggots and worms or decays. So then, Aphra thought, staring up at the blank ceiling above them, why the <em>fuck</em> are they alive? Can they <em>seriously </em>not die properly? What kind of absolute <em>bullshit</em> is that!? Or <em>are </em>they dead and this is just some sort of purgatory? Aphra tried to lift their head, only to freeze at the feeling of a fucking <em>strap of leather </em>on their forehead. They tried to take it off their head, only to feel and hear the rattle of <em>handcuffs </em>on their wrists. Their eyes darted to their hands, only to completely freeze at the sight of <em>bone</em>. Actual fucking bone. That-</p><p>That's not <em>possible</em>. Are they dead? They have to be dead, this can't be possible but they're seeing their own <em>bones </em>so maybe fucking <em>anything </em>is possible. A strangled, stressed laugh escaped them, their mind not picking up on how distinctly masculine it sounded, even if it did sound childish. They were chanting a constant stream of curses as they tried to struggle out of their restraints, it didn't take them long to give up. It wasn't helping, and they knew that.</p><p>"Y'know," they said to the air, even though they were pretty sure there wasn't anyone around, "This is awfully kinky for a first date." They laughed once again, sounding slightly hysterical. Ahh, humor, the perfect coping mechanism. </p><p>"I don't have anything against a few kinks, but this is a bit far bud," they continued on, their body tensed. Aphra's teeth kept on meeting each other in a jittery dance, and for some reason they heard . . . rattling? They could feel their heart pitter pattering against their chest, practically fit to burst. Their eyes darted down, and froze. Unbeknownst to them, the lights in their eye sockets had all but gone out, before they both flashed on once more and were instead wide and a deep green. They started struggling against their restraints once more, breath quickening with a wild panic because-</p><p>Because-</p><p>
  <em>They were completely naked, and they had nothing to show for it.</em>
</p><p>All that they saw were bones. They saw ribs, curved and tinged <em>green, </em>for some reason, and a spine, and they were <em>alive, </em>and-</p><p>And-</p><p>This isn't fucking <em>possible</em>, they thought wildly.</p><p>You must be wondering why Aphra was so calm about seeing their arm completely stripped of any form of meat. And that's an easy question to answer! See, there's this neat little thing called shock, and as far as they know, they had died only moments before. And the last thing that they remember was being body slammed by a car going far above the speed limit, so really, waking up in a featureless, white room really wasn't all <em>that </em>bad. Depending on your perspective, knowing jack shit about where you are and possibly dying later is way better than just full out dying.</p><p>A blaze came from both of their sockets, thick and cloying, bringing with it the scent of damp earth and myrrh. Aphra's vision sharpened, which gave them pause, surprise briefly dampening panic. They'd never had good vision, hell, for most of their life they'd used glasses before they'd gotten contacts. So for them to suddenly have . . . <em>good </em>vision was a shock. And it got them thinking, too. Taking in a slow, rattling breath, they slowly calmed down their beating heart.</p><p>Right. Okay. What do they know? They'd been hit by a car, had felt their body break like some sort of paper doll and nobody helped them and they were getting dangerously into breakdown territory so they're just going to <em>change the subject. </em>Craning their neck slightly, Aphra grit their teeth at the feel of bones sliding against each other, cushioned by <em>something</em>. The room around them was . . . very white. Whoever had made it must really be into minimalism, because asides from the steel table they were tied down to, another table with a tray filled with suspiciously sharp objects, and cabinets, it was practically bare in here. If this was some freaky kind of lab, they were expecting vials of questionable objects at <em>least. </em>If you were gonna kidnap them at least set the goddamn <em>mood.</em></p><p>They were then startled out of their <strike>slightly judgmental</strike> observations by the sound of keys rattling behind them. Flinching, Aspra froze, before they promptly shut their eyes and tried to seem like they were asleep. They had a lot of practice of doing this when they were younger, their parents would do surprise check ins at night, what for, they didn't know. But it definitely wasn't for anything good, just like a lot of other things, actually.</p><p>The door opened, and then a moment later it closed, the lock being turned once more. It made them feel trapped, and they could feel their heart thundering against their chest, but they still kept their body still and their face slack. The sound of shoes clicking quietly against tile came, and someone stepped right besides where they were laying. Nothing happened, but they could feel eyes on their body, everything was completely silent for a few moments, and then-</p><p>"✋︎ 🙵■︎□︎⬥︎ ⍓︎□︎◆︎🕯︎❒︎♏︎ ♋︎⬥︎♋︎🙵♏︎."</p><p>Aphra's entire body tensed, their eyes flying open as they looked up to see <em>who </em>was looking back down at them. Fear came quick, and it made them freeze like a deer caught in head lights. They <em>felt </em>like one, they felt like they were trapped because right above them, with a large, crooked smile and coldly amused golden eye lights was W. D fucking Gaster.</p><p>Aphra is <em>fucked</em>.</p><p> </p>
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